DXe n_f _`j DXib 9\Zb_Xd
hop that hen and ng out of as lucky et a job us to do hen so I , it was a the prisngs who height of that gang culture in East LA and I was immersed in that world of low riders.”
Shamrock Social Club’s motto is Where The Elite And The Underground Meet. And Mark admits there have been times where he has been nervous tattooing someone.
“I remember when I was 19 and I was tattooing the president of the Hell’s Angels. He reared back in pain and he knocked me and the table over.
“It occurred to me then that I should be nervous and I could be afraid, but I shouldn’t let the fear in. I don’t get nervous now. I keep my cool but I do want to make the person happy.
“I am superstitious about the 666, I won’t do it. I want to do tattoos which will make people’s lives better.”
Mark was also close friends with the rapper Tupac Shakur and became embroiled in the 90s East Coast/West Coast Hip Hop rivalry which defined a generation. He was particularly close to the star and his family when Tupac was shot in 1996, but also formed an unlikely friendship with his rival, The Notorious B.I.G. “The whole Death Row Records community were my close friends of mine,” Mark says. “I would go to the studio and tattoo Tupac whilst he was recording. “He was unlike Beckham because he couldn’t sit still. When he was in the hospital after he got shot his whole crew, Suge Knight, his family and fiancée all camped out at my tattoo shop, it became the waiting room for the hospital.
“I started doing Tupac portraits on them. Even now I can see his big eyes staring back at me.
Timeless
“I got to see how tattooing memories help people grieve.
“His legacy is like a religion to people. I didn’t know it would be as timeless as it was.
“But I did tattoo B.I.G. as well. Puff Daddy was trying to get me to go to New York to do him but I wasn’t comfortable because I was a card-carrying member of the West Coast fraternity. But B.I.G. came to LA to see me and we did have an amazing day together.
“I was talking to Johnny Depp about what happened recently as he was making a movie about it. I have my thoughts about what happened, they were both amazing people, but up until now I have chosen to keep it to myself.”
Mark believes addiction to getting inked is as strong as with drugs and alcohol: “The release of endorphins and facing that pain feels like getting high. There is a high in getting a tattoo. You feel that tingle.” And he doesn’t think the current craze will die down anytime soon.
“Those damn celebrities are responsible for the explosion in tattooing for sure,” he laughs. “You see someone like Johnny (Depp) who wears his tattoos like clothes. That’s the difference with my tattooing.
“When I am finished with a tattoo on Johnny I want it to look at home on him and like it was always there, like a birthmark he was born with. That’s how it should be.”
¬ÊMark Mahoney will be the artist in residence at the Mandrake Hotel until October 16, visit the mandrake.com